Chapter 91 - What Exactly Was Hatched
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
The crisis ended just like that.
As the last monster fell to the ground with a wail under Knight Philip’s sword, living aberrations could no longer be seen on the battlefield. There were only skeletons that were continuously disintegrating covering the ground and a group of soldiers who were about to run out of strength.
No more new monsters came rushing out of the mountains; neither could any more loud bangs resembling the roar of thunder be heard from the direction of the Dark Range.
Thus, a good half-minute passed before Sir Byron began the first cheer.
Following him were soldiers, militiamen, then the civilians and serfs at camp. The cheers resounded through the southern bank of the White River. Every person learned of this victory, and to those people who had lived through the old Cecil catastrophe, this victory carried an especially exceptional significance.
The ones who worked out the plan knew how much of this victory had been achieved with the help of favorable timing and geographical position; how much luck and risks it encompassed and how many uncontrolled variables were present. However, the majority of the laymen wouldn’t know. They were only aware there were hundreds of monsters invading from the south; their numbers were 10 times that of the camp’s combatants, yet in less than half a day, all these monsters were wiped out. Not even one made it inside the fence wall of the camp.
The immense psychological stress flushed out into cheers of wild joy at present. Even Amber who’d just returned to camp with Heidi could not help but be infected by the joyous atmosphere and joined in the celebration.
Yet after cheering for some time, she noticed that Gawain wasn’t with everyone. Thus, she caught the little maidservant, Betty, who was passing by. The latter was carrying a whole lot of alchemical bottles, following behind the druid Pittman. “Where’s your Lord?”
Betty shook her head. “I don’t know!”
“He’s in the tent at the southern side.” Pittman stopped, turned his head, and informed rapidly. “I think there’s something wrong with the dragon egg again. Ah, I shall not speak to you any longer. I’ll send the potions there first. We have a considerable number of wounded men!”
The little old man dashed off swiftly with the little maidservant. Amber looked around. Finding that there was indeed nothing of her business here, she disappeared into the shadows with a flash.
In the tent at the southern part of camp, Gawain and Rebecca had also heard the cheers that reverberated through the entire camp long ago. It was a foregone conclusion; they had safely pulled through this crisis. Earlier, Sir Byron had sent a man to ask about the follow-up arrangements. Gawain sent a message for the two knights to first proceed with the cleanup of the battlefield, while he and Rebecca would remain here for the time being, confronting this rock ball that was suspected to be a ‘dragon egg’.
The monsters’ skeletons outside the tent were rapidly disintegrating. The remaining carcasses were gathered and placed in one pile by the soldiers, left to await natural disintegration. Meanwhile, the rock ball that had put on a great display of its invincible prowess earlier had now returned to the tent. It was quietly floating at a height of tens of centimeters from the ground, maintaining an awkward standoff with Gawain.
“To be honest, I was really scared to death earlier.” The rock ball swayed in its spot as a metallic trill-like voice sounded from inside it. “Those aberrations.. What—what are they? Why did they suddenly all just come charging towards me..”
“I’m not sure if there was anything about you that attracted them, but you smashed a dozen monsters to death alone. You still have the cheek to say you were frightened now?” Gawain gave this odd big ball a sidelong glance. “And after all that effort, not only can you move by yourself, you can even speak.. Does this mean you’ve been putting on a pretense all this time?”
The rock ball wasn’t the least bit ashamed (of course, there was indeed no way of perceiving any expression from its appearance). “So it’s wrong to have a strong self-protection mentality? I had no idea about your intentions. Of course, I’ll be more low-key first. I still planned on observing for two more days. In the end, I suddenly heard an uproar outside today, and the number of soldiers keeping guard had been greatly reduced. Therefore, I wanted to come out secretly to check out the situation.. How could I have expected that the moment I moved, those monsters would come running!”
Gawain nodded; he had figured out the entire course of things. This rock ball had clearly repressed a certain ‘spirit’ of its own on purpose previously; thus, its sense of presence was faint. Even Pittman only discovered signs of life by accident. However, the monsters invaded today, and this rock ball thought that this was perhaps a chance, so it ran out recklessly. In the end, once it moved, its aura leaked. This bit of leak might not mean anything to humans, but to those aberrations who preyed on signs of life and magical power, it was as obvious as a beacon in the night. And in the eyes of those monsters, the life and magical power of this rock ball were evidently more ‘delicious’. Thus, the subsequent, unexpected situation occurred.
Fortunately, everything ultimately ended as a near miss.
After figuring out all that, Gawain could not help but examine this crazy egg who almost successfully sought its own doom. “So are you still intending on escaping now? Let me tell you, only a small group of those monsters came wandering over. If you were to bring yourself to right under their noses, then no one would be able to save you.”
Rebecca knew that her Ancestor was intimidating the person.. egg once she heard his words. However, the rock ball was unaware of the true situation, so it was naturally startled. “Ah— I’m not escaping anymore. This place is too dangerous. Besides, about that.. I’m now starting to believe what you said earlier on.”
“Oh?” Gawain lifted a brow. “What do you believe?”
“You all and those people who trapped me in the laboratory those days.. probably.. really aren’t from the same gang.”
Gawain found it interesting; he was just about to ask how it had formed its judgment when he spotted, from the corner of his eye, Amber leaping out from the shadows in a corner of the tent. Miss Half-elf had clearly heard the earlier conversation. The moment she sprung out, she questioned noisily, “So, how did you figure it out this time?”
The rock ball floated up and down for a moment. “You people are much shabbier than that bunch of people then. Such a big camp doesn’t even have a magic cannon. You definitely cannot be the same people..”
The veins in Gawain’s forehead throbbed, but he heard Rebecca beside him agree as she nodded as if in thought. “Oh, oh, that makes sense too..”
Amber moved to Gawain with a Shadow Walk and in a lowered voice, said, “Honestly, if I were you, the day after I crawled out of my coffin, I would have kicked this embarrassing descendant out of the family clan..”
An ultimate disgrace actually dared to call another embarrassing?
Gawain glared at Amber, then turned to look at the rock ball floating in mid-air. “So, you’re finally willing to believe what I told you that day?”
“Hold on. I only believe that you aren’t accomplices with that gang of people in those days. I didn’t say that I believe everything you said, especially about a thousand years having gone by and whatnot.. I’ve got to properly verify that.” The rock ball swayed its body especially airily. Then it went on slightly reluctantly, “Of course, I now basically believe that you people mean no harm. Mm, I remember you specially ran over to save me just now.”
Although this attitude was still kind of asking for a beating, it was much better than before. Gawain understood that he could not force this fascinating ball — which had been rough-handled by people of the Gondor Kingdom and then subsequently rescued from the laboratory — to easily trust others. Thus, he nodded, “Alright, trust can be slowly built. We’ll— Eh, wait a minute. Turn to the side and let me have a look—— to the left, turn to the left.”
Rebecca and Amber also moved closer, curious after hearing Gawain, while that rock ball turned to puzzlement. “Why? There’s something on me?”
The rock ball turned a little to the side. Amber finally knew what Gawain had found.
On the lower half of the ball, a small piece of the originally impervious, rock-like yet metallic outer shell had fallen out, and there were several long cracks that extended out from the fallen spot, already reaching the ball’s ‘waistline’.
“Your shell seems to have cracked,” Rebecca said, batting her eyes and cautiously pointing at the cracked spot using her staff. “Don’t you feel pain?”
“Ah?” The rock ball seemed to have noticed the crack on its outer shell only then. Its tone sounded slightly flustered. “Ah! I must have broken it when I fell from the sky several times earlier on!”
“Is it okay that your shell is cracked?” Gawain was suddenly a little worried. “Do you want me to get a mason or blacksmith to come repair it for you?”
“..Tsk, forget it. It’s time for me to break out of my shell anyway. You people aren’t the enemy either.” The rock ball seemed to ponder for a moment, and then it shook its body. “Move further away, I’m going to leave my shell.”
Amber’s eyes instantly widened. “Wait a minute! You said you’re leaving your shell?! Then hold on! I’ve got to go get people!”
Miss Half-elf noisily left these words, and without waiting for anyone present to react, she flashed back into the shadows, leaving the rock ball, Gawain, and the others in puzzlement. The rock ball only spoke up after keeping quiet for a few seconds. “Then do I still come out?”
“Wait a moment. She’ll definitely be back soon.” Gawain could not grasp the thinking of that half-elf either. He could only comment, “She always has her own viewpoint.”
However, a short while later, Amber ran back in haste, and she was also tugging on Heidi and Pittman.
The two had evidently been pulled here while in a confusion.
“Ancestor, what has happened here?” Heidi saw the rock ball floating in mid-air the moment she stepped in; then she looked to Gawain. “Earlier, Amber hastily said something about how the dragon egg was about to hatch. I didn’t quite catch it..”
Whereas, Pittman had noticed the fallen and cracked traces on the bottom half of the rock once he entered. The little old man immediately cried out, “Gosh! This dragon egg is about to hatch!”
“Isn’t it, isn’t it!” Amber was so excited as if the one about to break out of the shell was herself. “That’s why I notified you two! By the way, do you two know how to take care of a small dragonman?”
The two people who were forcibly brought here instantly faltered, while Gawain considered whether or not to throw Amber out right now. However, the rock ball seemed as if it no longer had the patience to wait for these weird people to casually act as they pleased. An unusual low hum came from inside it as if it was being charged. The surface of the sphere began to vibrate violently, and those impervious yet rough materials of its outer shell continuously cracked through the vibrations. On the spot at the bottom half where a piece had already fallen off, pieces of ‘shell’ started to fall off its surface in succession.
Everyone no longer spoke; they watched this perplexing sphere with looks of surprise and anticipation while awaiting the moment the life inside it broke out of the shell.historical
Finally, accompanied by a string of bursting rattles, fine cracks swiftly spread over the sphere; then, all of the outer shell blew open at once!
The rock ball’s outer shell came off.
It was a smooth metal ball inside.
The metal ball swayed. “How is it? Am I shiny?”
Pittman realized that the entire hatching process had ended only then. He stared at the metal ball that was in mid-air with his mouth agape. “Eh, no.. That’s it? Are you sure you have already left the eggshell?”
“I’m sure.”
“But you’re still an egg!” The old druid sounded as if he was about to go nuts. “You’re still an egg! What happened to being a dragon egg?”
Rebecca dazedly looked at the round silver ball floating before her eyes. She only blurted out after a long while, “So this is actually an egg egg..”